


Expecting the Augury

by CrookshanksAgentofOWCA



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Bellamort, Consensual Mind Reading, Delphi was born the normal way stop being weird about it, F/M, I'll probably add more tags later, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, Voldemort CAN love you can't change my mind, secret-ish relationship, soft bellamort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26593705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrookshanksAgentofOWCA/pseuds/CrookshanksAgentofOWCA
Summary: Bellatrix has some...surprising news for Voldemort. If you've read/seen Cursed Child, you know what it is!
Relationships: Bellatrix Black Lestrange & Narcissa Black Malfoy, Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Voldemort, Delphi & Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Delphi & Voldemort (Harry Potter)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24





	Expecting the Augury

**Author's Note:**

> Just a look at Bellatrix's pregnancy and how she and Voldemort handled it. This takes place during Half-Blood Prince.

Bellatrix took a deep breath before entering the sitting room. The Dark Lord stood with his back toward her, staring out the window, lost in thought. Bella had no idea how he was going to react to this news. She wasn’t even completely sure how _she_ was reacting. But she had to tell him sometime, so she supposed it would be best to just get it over with.

“My Lord—” she began, and he turned around, looking amused.

“‘My Lord?’” he repeated. “There’s no one else here, Bella; no need for such formalities.”

“I’m sorry, my—um, Voldemort,” she stammered. It had been years since the Dark Lord had asked her to call him by his name, but it still gave her a thrill every time. She just hoped that privilege wasn’t about to be revoked.

“Are you all right?” He sounded concerned now and she knew why. She was keeping her distance, still about six feet away from him. Usually she’d have thrown herself into his arms by now. “What’s happened?” When she didn’t answer, he crossed the rest of the space between them and laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Bella?”  
“I have…news,” Bellatrix said, feeling emboldened by his touch and hoping this wasn’t the last time she felt it.

“Bad news?”  
“I’m not sure yet.”  
“Bella, whatever it is, we can deal with it. Is it Dumbledore? The Ministry? Has Wormtail done something stupid again?”

Bella shook her head.

“No, it’s nothing like that. It’s me. My Lord, I’m…pregnant.”

There was a long silence. Voldemort hadn’t been expecting that and it was clearly taking him sometime to process it, but he hadn’t removed his hand. That was a good sign. When the Dark Lord did speak, it was only to repeat her.

“You’re…pregnant?”  
“Yes.”  
“Pregnant?”

“ _Yes._ ”

“So…you…you’re going to have a baby?”

“That’s what pregnant means, my love,” she replied, then bit her tongue nervously. She was the only one who could get away with talking to the Dark Lord like that, but now was probably not a good time. Voldemort didn’t seem annoyed, however; he was still deep in thought.

“And…I’m the father?” Bella frowned.

“Yes, of course! Why would you ask—”

“Well, I don’t know. You seemed so nervous coming in, I wondered—”  
Bellatrix made a gagging sound.

“NO! I would _never—you_ are the only one I’ve ever loved and the only one I ever will love! I’d rather die than be with someone else. You _know_ that!”  
“I know, I do, I’m sorry. But…What’s worrying you, then?”  
“Worrying? I’m not worrying, my Lord, I’m _terrified_! There’s a freaking _person growing_ inside me and the smell of food makes me nauseous all of a sudden and I didn’t know how you’d react. I’m going to get sick and weak and it will be _disgusting._ You might…you might not want to be with me anymore.” She’s crying now. Embarrassing. She could blame the hormones, but that would mean acknowledging this was real. “ And even if we get through that, what would we do with an actual baby? I love you so much, and this could change everything and I don’t want to loose you!”

“Oh, Bella!” Voldemort wrapped his arms around her and Bella couldn’t help but smile through her tears. The Dark Lord was a much better hugger than one might think. “My dearest, Bellatrix. You are the only person I’ve ever felt love for. You are the best of my Death Eaters. I want you by my side, always. You will _never_ lose me.”

Bellatrix sobbed harder and he hugged her tighter. “You don’t need to cry. I…Bella, I…love you.” He still struggles to say it, but he means it. “This is definitely unexpected, but it’s not necessarily bad. We’re going to have a child. Wait a minute,” Voldemort said, stepping back so they were face to face, but not letting go of her. “I thought you couldn’t have children.”  
“W-what made you think that?” Bella asked, perplexed.

“Well, there’s a rumor—just one of those things everyone whispers about. I never brought it up because I didn’t want to embarrass you. Besides, it didn’t seem relevant.”  
“Oh, right. I started that rumor about myself so people would stop asking why I wasn’t having children with Rodolphus. That was never going to happen anyway, so it was a good lie.”

“But now you are having a child. With…me.”

“Yeah…but how am I supposed to have a child?” Bellatrix cried. “I’m a warrior, a killer. I don’t know how to take care of things. I hated my own mother. If she hadn’t died while I was in Azkaban, I might’ve killed her myself.”  
“I never knew my parents,” Voldemort said. “Well, I met my father briefly. When I killed him.” Bella snorted. There was nothing funny about the situation but it was so ridiculous she couldn’t stop herself.

“How are _we_ supposed to be parents?” she wondered.

“Well,” the Dark Lord said, brushing a strand of hair out of her face, “I never thought I could love someone. I had no desire to, until I met you. And I know our relationship hasn’t always been easy—mostly because of me, but you make me feel _happy_ , genuinely happy, not the temporary satisfaction I get after killing. No one believes I can love, which is good, because it scares them. But they’re wrong about me and I was wrong about myself. If I can love, maybe we can raise a child. Besides, any child of ours will be better than any child that’s been born yet.”

Bella smiled.

“That’s true. Just think; it will be a descendant of Salazar Slytherin and a Black. And if the child has any of our combined magical skill—”

“They’ll be unstoppable,” Voldemort finished, grinning. “Besides, we should topple the Ministry soon enough. Our child will grow up in a world we control and maybe even help us shape it. It will have a far better childhood than either of us.”  
“And we won’t force it to marry someone it doesn’t love, right?”

“Of course not.” Voldemort stroked Bellatrix’s cheek gently. “It doesn’t have to get married at all if it doesn’t want to! I…I never imagined being a father—”

“I certainly never thought I’d be a mother! Eurgh, just using that word to describe myself feels wrong.”  
“—but we’re capable of anything. You know that. And this child will be too. Bella, I know you’re scared and I understand it will be painful—”

“I can handle pain. The only thing that scares me is the thought of not being with you.”

“Which will not happen. We made a Vow, remember?”  
Bellatrix smiled through her tears, recalling the night they’d decided that even though they couldn’t get married, they could still make certain promises to each other.

“Our binder’s lost his soul now though,” she remarked. “Is the vow still good if the binder’s soul gets eaten?” Voldemort frowned.

“I’m not entirely sure. There isn’t really precedent for…wait, are you just hinting that you want to make _another_ Unbreakable Vow?” Bella smiled coyly.

“Some couples get marriage renewals. Cissy and Lucius do it every few years, just so they have an excuse to throw another party.”  
“We can’t have a party!”  
“I know.” Bella rolled her eyes. “I don’t want a party. I just want to know I’m yours.”  
“You are mine. Forever.”

Bellatrix hesitated for a moment, then responded,

“And you’re mine.”

Voldemort smiled.

“Yes, but you can’t tell anyone I said that.”  
“Don’t worry, Voldemort. All your secrets are safe with me. No one will know you have a heart.”

“Speaking of secrets…we cannot tell anyone about the baby.”

Bella started slightly. She had almost forgotten about that as they fell into their normal rhythm, but now reality came crashing back around her.

“So you really think we should do this. You want to have this baby?”

“Well…yes. I mean, if you want to.” The Dark Lord frowned. “Do you not want to?”

_Do I?_ Bellatrix wondered. She had been so worried about how Voldemort would react to her pregnancy that she hadn’t really considered exactly how she felt, aside from shocked. She had never imagined having children and constantly mocked Narcissa for how she fussed over Draco. Was she going to become like that? That didn’t sound at all appealing, but she wasn’t her sister. And this child wouldn’t be Draco. This would be Lord Voldemort’s child. Voldemort’s and hers. They’d secretly been a couple for years now, but if they had this baby, they’d be a _family._ That had a nice ring to it.

Bella thought back to her own childhood, both the happy parts—running through the grounds of their estate and sneaking down to the kitchen for cookies in the middle of the night with Cissy and…the other one—and the miserable parts—constantly having to defend her sisters from their mother’s screaming; sitting through endless lectures on how to “be a proper young lady” and “get a good Pureblood husband.” Now she had a chance to be a mother and she could do it her own way. She tried picturing a child who looked like a combination of her and the Dark Lord, running and laughing the way she used to, without a care in the world. But she wouldn’t ruin that child’s fun the way her mother had ruined hers. The thought gave her an odd, warm feeling in her chest.

“I do,” she said, staring straight into Voldemort’s blood-red eyes. “I want to have this baby. Your baby. _Our_ baby.” He smiled and kissed her softly.

“I know this is a surprise, but I think it could be a good one,” Voldemort murmured. “At least, we can’t do any worse than our own parents.”

Bellatrix giggled, feeling incredibly light inside. For the last few days she had alternated between terror that the Dark Lord would leave her and concern over exactly how horrible pregnancy would be. But not only was Voldemort not abandoning her, he was happy. He _wanted_ to be the father of their child; he _wanted_ them to have a future together. And she knew she could handle anything with Voldemort at her side. She pulled him in for another kiss, but jumped back not long after.

“I’m going to be sick again,” she muttered, marching out of the room. “I’m glad we’re having a child, but this whole process is still GROSS.”

“I’ll get you a potion to help with the sickness,” the Dark Lord said, following her concernedly down the hall to the bathroom. “I’ll talk to Severus—”

“I am NOT drinking anything Snape makes,” Bella snapped, “You do want me and the baby to live, don’t you?” She slammed the bathroom door behind her. Her lover flinched sympathetically at the retching sounds that followed.

“Do you…ah…need any help in there?”  
“NO! Stay out.” More retching. “I don’t want you to see me like this!”

“Bella, dear, I’ve seen a lot. I think I can handle this.”  
The only response was more retching. Realizing he wasn’t getting through the door, Lord Voldemort reached out with his mind. Bellatrix was a skilled Occulmens, so he wasn’t surprised to find an impenetrable wall wrapped around her thoughts. He smiled admiringly. There weren’t many who could keep him out of their heads. Instead of trying to break down her defenses, as he’d do with an enemy, he gently nudged her mind with his own, asking, not demanding, to be let in. There was a moment when her defense tightened slightly, as if she were clenching her brain, then there was a slight opening and their minds met.

Bellatrix’s brain was, as he’d expected, in turmoil. She was mostly occupied with the extreme unpleasantness of vomiting, but below that cycled fears of what was to come and how this child would affect their future, but also pride that the two of them had created something together, relief that he had taken the news so well and, as always, a burning love for him.

Images flashed through his mind, some memories—their first kiss, so long ago; the two of them cuddled up together, mostly asleep, but _happy;_ Bellatrix in front of a mirror, clutching her stomach and looked horrified as she realized she was pregnant; her standing behind him, as she had just now, unsure how to break the news and disturb the comfortable rhythm they had fallen into.

But there were other, hazier images—things that hadn’t happened, but which Bella had imagined. Him, casting her out, saying it was over between them; him, looking repulsed as her stomach swelled. Voldemort felt a twisting anguish seeing why Bella had been so afraid to tell him. He focused as hard as he could on how much he loved her and needed her and didn’t want to live without her and channeled those thoughts into her mind, giving her a sort of mental hug.

Bellatrix’s thoughts seemed to slow in response to this and different images started appearing: them, walking through a park somewhere, swinging their child between them, while Nagini slithered along happily, them bundled on a couch in front of a fire, the child drifting of to sleep, them standing on a pedestal while wizards and Muggles alike bowed before the family.

_Family._

Voldemort had never had a family. He’d been born without one and, while he’d managed to build the beginnings of a decent army at Hogwarts, hadn’t found anyone he could consider family there either. But then he met Bella. It had taken him far too long to realize how much she meant to him, but now he would never let her go. They also had Nagini, who was remarkably intelligent, even for a snake, and had helped him back from the brink of death. Without her, he might never have seen Bellatrix again. Despite the continued threat of Potter and the ongoing war, Voldemort was comfortable for the first time ever. The thought of adding someone else to the mix hadn’t crossed his mind, but the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of being a father and raising a child. Joy swelled in Bellatrix as she heard these thoughts and for a moment their minds were blissfully entwined.

_Thank you,_ Bellatrix’s voice rang through his head as clearly as if she had spoken out loud.

_I love you,_ he thought back to her, without hesitation. It was easier to think it than to say it out loud. The door creaked open and Bella came out, wiping her face on one of the Malfoy’s best towels.

“Love you too.” She put her mental blockades back up, but wrapped her arms around his neck, tossing the towel on the floor. “Now…where were we?” Voldemort leaned in to kiss her, then wrinkled his face.

“Maybe brush your teeth first?”

She gave him a pouty look, but obliged.

**Author's Note:**

> I plan to write more, eventually going all the way up to Delphi's birth, but between school, life, other fics and general procrastination, who knows when/if that'll happen?


End file.
